first time dog owner - need moral support!

chuffy, amen!!!
 
well, here's an update.
 
i wish i would have had more time to introduce him to the crate, but i think he has spent time in a crate before as he took to it very well!  i spent all morning and afternoon on saturday getting him used to the crate, feeding him in it, hiding people food in it, etc. and put him in when i went to work that evening.  he did so well!  he didn't soil it and didn't whine when he saw me come home...he was so happy to see me when i let him out!  he's gone in there whenever i've been gone since saturday and there's no soiling, and my neighbor says he's been very quiet.  i'm so proud of him.  i ended up buying claw clippers instead of a clicker (he was starting to scratch me pretty badly), so that'll have to wait.
 
i suppose this conversation really belonged in crate training or first time poster or something along those lines, but i thought it was an obedience thing, so forgive me.
 
i feel ten times better about having him now that i'm not stressing out about poop and pee all over the house and cleaning up my trash every time i come home.  this will sound awful, but i can see why people who didn't know better would get a dog and then give up.  it's very difficult.  not to say that jobi and i won't have any more problems, but getting past the one big hurdle we've been dealing with since adoption has definitely brought to light all the wonderful things!  :-D
 
thanks for the input, all.  now i get to convince my school to let me pay my tuition late so that jobi can get his next round of heartworm treatment...LOL

Getting over the first hurdle is a huge confidence-booster, isn't it? You're right, there will always be issues coming up with your dog, but now that you've been successful with one, it's a pretty good sign that you'll be able to get over the rest as well. I'm so glad it worked out for you!

One thing I will say for crating: people may feel it is inhumane, but I was having some pretty ugly thoughts about my dog when I came home to a smoking pile of rubble where my house used to be every day (only a mild exageration). It was beginning to make me really resent my dog and despair about the possibility of keeping him. Once we crate trained, I could come home every day happy to see my dog, not dreading what I'd find and feeling ill-disposed towards him. When you're happy to see your dog, it impacts your dog's quality of life positively.

I'm hearing you houndlove.... it's horrible when you love a dog dearly but you feel you're starting to resent them at the same time.  Simple confinement helps with that and then the spiral starts going up.....
 
To the OP, I'm so glad you've had success.  Stick at it and keep us posted!!

I'm really glad to hear that things are going better with Jobi. [] You deserve a big pat on the back for making such progress with the crate training!!

Good to hear that things are getting better! It sounds like the crate training really paid off [sm=wink2.gif]
 
Keep letting us know how things go [].